George ckouch



(No Model.)

G. CROUCH.

TRUNK Patented Sept. 4, 1894.

co. wow-urns" wAsumn'mn. n, c,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. 7

GEORGE CROUCH, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

TRUNK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 525,488, dated September 4, 1894.

Application filed May 8, 1893. Serial No. 473,387. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE CROUCH, a citizen of the United States, residingin the city and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Trunks, of which the following is a specification.

In the manufacture of wooden trunks it has heretofore been usual to lap the edge of the top of the trunk upon the top edge of the front and back of the trunk and to secure the parts where they come together by nails passed vertically down through the top of the trunk; and for the sake of appearance and also to prevent the chipping of the wood, the angle or corner has been rounded, and in thus rounding the wood it is made thinner upon the angle and the angle becomes weak and the nails are liable to cause the wood to split and the parts to break, especially with the rough handling to which trunks are usually subjected.

The present invention is made for stifiening the edges of the trunk especially at the front and back of the cover or top of the trunk, but the same improvement may be applied for strengthening the bottom of the trunk where the front and back and the bottom come together. I

In carrying out my invention I make use of an angle strip approximatinga crescent in its shape, so that the edges of the strip and lap are united to the plank or other material at the top of the trunk and at the front or the back, and these edge strips can be made of any desired thickness and strength so as to stiffen the trunk and render it more rigid and stronger at the places that are most liable to injury.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section of the trunk with the corner pieces at both the top and bottom edges. Fig. 2 is a separate sectional view of one of the corner pieces and the ends of the trunk at the line w w.

The trunk is to be of any desired character or material; that is to say, the top, sides, bottom and ends may be of wood, pasteboard, vulcanite, or any similar material of sufficient strength and of the proper thickness.

I have shown the bottom A, front B, top 0 and the rim D around the top or lid of the trunk which is to be of. any desired width according to the character and form of the trunk.

The angle pieces E are preferably of wood and the surfaces 2 and 3 are substantially at right angles; the exterior corner 4 is preferably rounding and the interior surface 5 is rounding so that the material is thickest at the angle and hence of the desired strength to support the concussion and strain incident to the moving of trunks in transportation, and the material of the angle piece is recessed to form shoulders at 6 into which the end pieces F of the trunk set, so that the interlocking of the ends and the angle pieces causes the one portion to support the other, and the angle pieces may be secured to the ends of the trunk by nails and preferably by glue and'nails, and the material forming the top 0 or the bottom A is lapped upon each angle piece, suchangle pieces being recessed or formed with channels for the reception of the material of the top or the bottom of the trunk. By this construction the trunks are "7 5 strengthened at the places that have hereto fore been the weakest and where such trunks have been exposed to the greatest injury by concussion; and it will be apparent that metal straps, bands or corner pieces as here- So tofore provided in trunks can be used around these angle pieces the same as in trunks that have heretofore been made.

The capacity of the trunk is not materially lessened because the slight space occupied by the thickened corner is immaterial, because the contents of the trunk are very seldom packed closely down into the angles thereof.

The exterior surfaces of the angle piece will in some instances be at right angles, as shown at 7, and the angle piece may be varied in its sectional shape as required for particular trunks, so long as such angle piece is integral and adapted to rest upon the ends 5 of the trunk and be united with the material composing the two adjacent sides or surfaces of the trunk.

I am aware that trunks have been protected by angle strips secured by metal straps, and 10c that in the construction of boxes angle pieces with t'ongued and grooved edges have been employed.

In my improvement the strip is thickest in the middle and the edges are formed with shoulders to receive the adjacent lapping edges so that such parts can be nailed together and risk of splitting is avoided.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination in a trunk, of bottom angle pieces extending from end to end with the exterior surfaces at right angles, and thickest in the middle and having ofisets along the edges and the bottom and front or back portions of the trunk lapped upon such oifsets and secured, and shoulders at the ends on which the trunk ends rest, substantially as specified.

GEO. CROUCH.

WVitnesses:

GEO. T. PINCKNEY, A. M. OLIVER. 

